About Me

11/4/10

Is Life Giving you the Kung-Fu Kick?

The following video contains some of the blog from below plus my usually rantings. ;)

I remember my friend Thomas talking about the Kung-Fu Kick. It’s basically when we in our arrogance think we have life figured out and we get served this kick to bring us back to reality or at least the present reality, or ever-changing reality. Life has dealt this up many times to me. You know when you get in really heated discussions about relationships, politics or religion and then all of a sudden something happens with gale-force winds to knock you off your pedestal?

I basically go through life now with the attitude that I don’t know much of anything. It keeps me safe from these kinds of kicks. Basically, if you don’t stand behind the donkey, you won’t get the mule-kick. I am reminded of a quote;

“A Mule will labor ten years willingly and patiently for you, for the privilege of kicking you once.” ~William Faulkner

Basically, keeping your eyes wide-open instead of settling into any party, belief or religion can keep your eye on the kick coming. It keeps our humility in check and allows us to grow in our learning an tolerance.

Then there are those Kung-Fu kicks which abruptly bring a person to a reality check. Health might be the biggest one to do this and disaster may be the second largest.

It’s crazy that our bodies are so loosely yet magnificently put together. I sometimes lie in bed and wonder what is happening inside. Then I get weirded out by whatever is under my skin and I don’t give it any more thought.

Today was another Kung-Fu kick when I received an email from a friend whose wife was taken by ambulance (at just 55 years old) to the hospital and is now in ICU in an induced coma. They suspect COPD from bronchitis and her husband is pretty scared. She had no previous health problems.

The bigger lesson behind the delivery of this kick is that things like this interrupt life in a split second. You could be arguing, you could be working or sleeping. It’s a split second where you are hurled into a new world of hospitals and waiting. An Ambulance and hospital trip is as big of a kick as a tornado or hurricane. We don’t know which second of our day it will drop its bomb and life can change forever.

Life is hard enough without added extra drama. We should be spending every day doing healthy things, fun things, loving things…not arguing politics, religion or simple relationship cap-off-the-toothpaste stuff. Every single bit of our energy should be involving positive dialogue and happy, creative work or play so that in the event of a health problem or weather disaster, we are focused, healthy, positive and ready to deal with it. I do not want to say I was deliberating religion and politics when a friend had a heart attack. I don’t want to say I was arguing with family members when an earthquake hit. I don’t know at what point we are going to begin putting value on each and every second of our life instead of giving any moment to negativity and mindless chatter. It’s not our days, weeks, months or years that matter; it’s our moments that matter. We can argue about the afterlife and scare each other into things or we can cuddle with our children and read them some books. We can join political groups which just bad-mouth all day long or we can crank some music, push back the furniture and dance silly with our family. We can fight with our spouse about taking out the garbage or we say, “Forget about the garbage right now, let’s walk to the park and feed the birds.

I can tell you this much, I for one am not going to give any more of MY moments to argumentative, mindless, superficial discussion. I am going to work on my character, my art, my music and my friendships so that in the event of a crisis, I am strong enough to be able to deal with it all and perhaps learn what the value of ‘time well spent’ is.

Society is continuously pressuring us to be part of its superficial negativity and we are free to choose how we spend our days.

The world needs the angels and light-workers…the good people…the loving people…compassionate strong people who will encourage time spent with family, time with loved ones.

That Kung-Fu kick can happen and you could be sitting beside a hospital bed waiting for your wife to wake up from her coma. Then all the fights, arguments and time spent on wasted topics will mean absolutely nothing. That kind of kick is bigger than any leader of any party or religious group telling you to be angry at the enemy.

I hate these kicks. They are so painful. But I believe THESE are the real enemies that we need to be prepared for….not by trying to pass laws that are constantly cross-cancelling each other but by preparing our character to be more loving and strong. If we spend time healing our spirits, the spirit will be able to cope. If the Kung-Fu kick happens and has to interrupt a series of small kicks that are already being hurled at you, there’s not much of a chance of getting back up from it.

Training hard to storm-proof my home,

Karen :)

The Faulkner mule quote also reminds me of, “Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people.” from WC Fields